


you've got a friend in me

by GodOfLaundryBaskets, GoLBPodfics (GodOfLaundryBaskets)



Category: The Murderbot Diaries - Martha Wells
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Humor, No beta we die like mne, Podfic, Podfic Cover Art, Podfic Length: 0-10 Minutes, Slice of Life, typical murderbot self esteem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-13 14:41:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28530123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodOfLaundryBaskets/pseuds/GodOfLaundryBaskets, https://archiveofourown.org/users/GodOfLaundryBaskets/pseuds/GoLBPodfics
Summary: I could feel my face twisting into something... I wasn’t quite sure what.Related, the subject of identifying emotional states had come up around Ratthi two weeks ago. Please don’t ask me how, I’m still considering purging the whole event from my memory. Anyway, it led to Ratthi offering to find me acourseon emotional intelligence and I think it was a joke but I was too horrified at the thought to stick around to find out the punch line.I verified that the course does exist. It feels like a threat.
Relationships: Dr. Mensah & Murderbot (Murderbot Diaries)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 34
Collections: MysteryBox: Lavender Menace, Voiceteam Mystery Box 2020, podfIDIC: Seed 2





	you've got a friend in me

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Seed Challenge on VoiceTeam. I started with [seed number two](https://podfidic.dreamwidth.org/1747.html#cutid2) and wrote this. Then my wonderful team brought it to life in audio form!
> 
> -GoLB

## MP3 & M4B

* GodOfLaundryBaskets as the Narrator  
* tipsy_kitty as Mensah  
* AirgiodSLV as Murderbot  
* Djapchan as Ansah  
  
Written + Edited by: GodOfLaundryBaskets  
Cover Art by: [arkadyevna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arkadyevna)

  


Your browser doesn't support streaming with the HTML5 audio tag, but you can still [download this podfic](https://archive.org/download/youve-got-a-friend-in-me/you%27ve%20got%20a%20friend%20in%20me.mp3).

  
**To Download:** Right click the link and choose save link as.  


Type | Link | Size | Length  
---|---|---|---  
MP3 | [[link to mp3]](https://archive.org/download/youve-got-a-friend-in-me/you%27ve%20got%20a%20friend%20in%20me.mp3) | 6 MB | 0:07:31  
  
## Text

Mensah rounded the corner and saw me coming from the other direction. I saw her coming from the security cameras placed all around the transit ring and had been tracking her so I could intercept her since I’d left my assigned room.

“SecUnit, what are you doing here?”

“Why shouldn’t I be?” 

It was still novel to be able to refuse to answer questions when asked. I’d had a week where I’d refused to answer any questions at all that weren’t directly pertinent to security. While I had the ability to do so before coming to Preservation Alliance, it would have been impractical given I was still pretending to have a functioning governors module. 

The ability was also convenient now, since I wasn’t entirely sure of the answer myself. ‘I hadn’t seen her in a day, outside of a view screen, and I was worried’ didn’t seem like a pressing reason now that I was here and she was all right.

Mensah folded her arms and leveled an annoyed look at the wall behind me. But then she sighed and I could see the tension leave her shoulders, “There’s no reason. I’m just frustrated— But now’s not the time to talk about it.”

"Want some company?"

"Yes,” she said and her shoulders slumped a fraction more. I could feel my face twisting into something... I wasn’t quite sure what. 

Related, the subject of identifying emotional states had come up around Ratthi two weeks ago. Please don’t ask me how, I’m still considering purging the whole event from my memory. Anyway, it led to Ratthi offering to find me a _course_ on emotional intelligence and I think it was a joke but I was too horrified at the thought to stick around to find out the punch line. 

I verified that the course does exist. It feels like a threat.

We kept walking and I saw a person in the transport ring notice us. I found a security camera and zoomed into zirs face. I was also bombarded in the feed with zirs vital stats which ze was apparently broadcasting. 

Why humans thought this was a good idea was beyond me. It was less common here in Preservation Alliance than it was in the Corporate Rim, but it was still more common than I understood. Not that I couldn’t have gotten access to the same details from MedSystem through SecSystem but at least it wasn’t being broadcast publicly.

Ze waved and veered towards us, though once ze caught sight of me, I could tell ze was reconsidering stopping to chat. I wished ze would but unsurprisingly, my wish was not granted. Ze reached us and said, “Mensah, hey!”

"Hi Ansah. This is SecUnit, my friend."

Ansah nodded. "Just wanted to stop by and ask if you could get someone to stop by my office and water my plants? It totally slipped my mind and you’re the first person I’ve encountered,” ze gave a short laugh.

Apparently humans really did do this kind of thing outside the entertainment feeds. I always thought it’d been just a way to heighten the drama by only confessing love or that you were secretly the stolen daughter of your mothers clone when on the way somewhere else. It’d always seemed extremely impractical especially when the feed was there for you to submit messages through it anytime and anywhere. 

“Sure, I can speak with one of the station personnel and put in the request for you. I’m sure we’ll be able to find someone.”

“You’re a lifesaver!”

“It’s no trouble.”

“Anyway, sorry to ask and dash. I'm going to be late if I don’t hussle! I need to get to the docking rink before my transport takes off without me. Nice to meet you, SecUnit," zirs voice lilted upwords as if ze was unsure if it was nice to meet me. Which was fair. I wouldn’t have been sure either, though I could think of worse ways to be introduced to a SecUnit. People in Preservation Alliance had it off easy. Ze gave Mensah a wave, gave me an uncertain nod, and then rushed off.

Once she was out of earshot I asked, "Did you have to lie?"

“Would you have prefered another term?”

I did. Or at least I preferred _that_ not be used, but I didn’t actually have a better way to describe our relationship any more. Client is what I would have said in the past, but it was more than that now. Guardian— Ha! That one had the benefit of being legally true, at least for now. The full citizenship bills were still being worked on and discussed and all the boring human stuff I did my best not to care about until I was required to. Law was a lot less interesting outside of the dramas.

Probably realizing that I wasn’t going to answer, she changed the subject. “Alright, SecUnit. I suppose we should finish picking up my lunch before I run out of time to eat it.” Through the feed she sent me the feed signature for joking.

I shrugged. She knew I didn’t eat which meant she knew I was here because of her and that I already knew that she knew that. She had to know that I knew she realized that I wasn’t fooled by the subject change but she still performed the actions anyway which had to mean that she knew that I— 

Sometimes these things get away from me. 

Mensah nodded and set off towards where several food sellers operated. Through the feed she sent _Thanks for coming. I know you were off duty._

I sent an acknowledgment and added a smiley face. Off duty was another new thing I’d gotten to enjoy since coming to Preservation Alliance. It gave me plenty of time to organize and watch my media. Plus, it was nice to be around people that weren’t actively annoying me. By which I mean, it was nice being around Mensah.

I queued up an episode of Sanctuary Moon to start playing while we walked. I was still of duty after all. From the security camera, I saw Mensah glance at me sideways and smiled. It was a nice day and I hoped I hadn’t jinxed it.


End file.
